Hard Target: Elite Ops - Book One (20 page)

The pager would go off one day. She knew it. It had to.

The girl searched their packs as she spoke with Cesar in muted tones. She showed him Leland’s stash of ammunition, the other gun, and the money. Cesar shoved the weapon back into the pack. They lingered over the cash for a long moment with the girl still murmuring to him, but Anna couldn’t make out what she was saying.

“Go,” he finally ordered in Spanish. “Your grandmother is in the back room.”

She hurried through the door beside the fireplace and closed it behind her.

“There were at least two shooters, possibly more,” said Leland.

Anna looked at Leland like he’d lost his mind. Cesar eyed him suspiciously.

“Why would I lie?” asked Leland, directing the question to both of them.

“Why would you help?” asked Anna.

Leland answered without taking his eyes off of Cesar’s. “If he doesn’t know the details, it’s doubtful he is on their side. Which means he most likely is our only way out of here. Besides, if he’d been planning to shoot us, he’d have done it by now. Cesar doesn’t hesitate to do what’s necessary.”

Anna didn’t like what Leland was saying, but it made some sense—if any of this did. Cesar watched them throughout the exchange without speaking.

“So what do we do?” she asked.

Leland sighed. “I think it depends on our host here. What is your plan, Cesar? We’re a long way from your brother’s house.”

Cesar smiled and tilted his head toward them. “Not that far. I’m trying to decide whether I should shoot you now and avoid the hassle or try to figure out what the hell you’re doing in Mexico when you were specifically told not to come back unless you wanted to leave in a body bag.”

“What can I say? Sometimes you just feel like visiting the Mayan Riviera.” Leland sounded like he was shooting the breeze while waiting in line for a latte at Starbucks instead of being held at gunpoint.

Cesar’s laugh was harsh. “I believe you’re slightly off course. At this moment we’re a hundred miles from the ocean.”

“I’m a spontaneous kind of guy. We got to the beach and decided to do some exploring in the interior.” The words were light, but the tone was growing darker.

Cesar shook his head. “After your recent testimony, I would have expected you to lie low for a bit.”

“I felt the need to get away, change of scenery and all that. Besides, I thought you and your brother were grateful for my testimony this past week, or at least Ernesto was.”

Cesar’s eyes went arctic cold, and the impatience rolled off him in waves. “Ernesto might be grateful, but I’m not. You’re still on my—How do you say it?—my shit list. So enough of the bull. What does Tomas Rivera want with you?”

Anna listened with an increasing sense of dread. Obviously this was one of the men in the area who had it in for Leland.

“I’ve no idea. Was it Rivera’s people shooting at us just now? I would have thought it was your guys.” Leland glanced at Anna before turning back to Cesar.

There was something in his eyes. Did he finally have clarification on who had Zach?

Leland stared at the man as he spoke. “Cesar is Ernesto Vega’s top lieutenant and brother. The Vegas and the Riveras don’t get on too well.”

Cesar laughed. “You have a gift for understatement.”

“I thought the girl was working for Rivera,” said Anna.

“She does, sometimes. Tomas may own this town, but the girl is mine. She does what I tell her.”

Anna nodded her understanding.

“Does Ernesto know what’s going on here?” Leland asked.

Cesar shrugged, but his eyes went cooler if possible. “That’s none of your concern. Don’t fuck with me, Agent Hollis. You won’t like what happens to your lady.”

Anna inhaled sharply and pulled at Leland’s shirt. He didn’t look down at her before speaking. “Her son was kidnapped. We’re pretty sure Tomas Rivera is behind it and is holding the boy for ransom. We’ve already given them half the cash. We were to hand over the remainder when they brought the boy back to us.”

“I heard about this today.” Cesar inclined his head toward the back room, indicating the girl. “She told me. Rivera’s men told her to take care of the
gringos
who came to the motel tonight. That would have been you.” Cesar looked skeptical. “Why did Rivera take the boy? Is this woman rich?”

Anna finally spoke up. “Not particularly. I don’t know why they took him. He’s very ill. He—” she glanced at Leland and at the pager still clutched in her hand. “He needs a heart transplant. Constant monitoring.”

Cesar studied her, his dead shark eyes sending a cold shudder through her body. “It makes no sense. Why would Tomas kidnap someone so difficult to care for unless . . .” His words trailed off.

“Unless what?” Anna asked.

Cesar didn’t answer her.

“What?” She looked from one man to the other.

Leland put a hand on her arm to steady her. “Unless he never intended for Zach to survive.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

L
ELAND WATCHED THE
color drain from her face as the words sank in.

“But why? Why would he want my son to die?” Her voice broke on the question as she looked to both men for answers.

“He’s not just your son. He’s Max Mercado’s, too,” said Leland.

Her eyes widened. “Oh God. You think Max is responsible for this?”

“Nothing else makes much sense.” Leland didn’t acknowledge the relief washing over him, knowing Zach’s abduction most likely had not been his own fault.

Leland should feel like a shit for that to matter to him now when she was in such a crisis, but he couldn’t help himself. It did matter. Not being responsible for the boy’s disappearance mattered a lot.

“Businessmen in Mexico of your husband’s stature must have contacts and interactions with the cartels to keep their product moving. It’s how their business runs smoothly,” said Cesar.

Leland considered the man’s words. This made sense. In all his tequila growing and production, it was quite plausible that Max Mercado had run afoul of Mexico’s largest exporters.

Anna sank into the chair beside the door. “I don’t want to believe this of Max, but after yesterday, I can’t be that surprised.”

They could hear shouts from outside getting closer. Whoever had been doing the shooting earlier was regrouping, and most likely intensifying the search for them.

“What do you want with us, Cesar?”

“That’s an intriguing question, Agent Hollis. I’m still figuring out what I want. The prospect of jacking with Rivera’s plans is always appealing.”

“I don’t understand,” said Anna. The shouting voices grew closer.

“When my girl told me Rivera wanted you unharmed, I knew you were valuable. That’s why I came. This afternoon word started circulating that
gringos
with a lot of American dollars were coming to town. Many in the area have more fear of poverty than of Rivera. That’s why you’ve caused such a stir with your ransom money and attracted the attention of those unsavory characters outside. It only takes a few bad apples after all.”

Cesar looked down at his revolver and checked the safety before continuing. “Those men outside want you. They don’t work for Rivera. They’re only after the money they’ve heard you’re carrying. But Rivera wants you, so that makes you a lucrative commodity to me, albeit one with a limited shelf life.”

“Cut to the chase, Cesar. Are you going to turn us over to those people out there?” asked Leland.

Cesar stared at him, his eyes unreadable. A big smile broke out over his face. His gold front tooth glimmered in the light. “Not now.”

“Why wouldn’t you?” asked Leland.

“Maybe I’m feeling generous, or maybe I just hate Tomas Rivera more than I hate DEA agents. Do you really care? I can get you out of here.” He continued to study Leland with his frosty gaze.

Cesar’s being generous made Leland more nervous than anything that had happened so far.

“It’s your lucky day, Agent Hollis. I’m going to help you. I have a Jeep. We can leave now.”

Leland didn’t believe in Cesar’s kind of generosity and suspected he might have even been the one to help circulate word about the ransom money, drawing those “unsavory characters” to the area like chumming sharks in the ocean. But there weren’t many options. The men outside were after the cash in his backpack. They didn’t care what happened to Leland or Anna, and Cesar had no control over them.

He might be after the cash, too, but Cesar wasn’t wielding a knife yet. Or he might turn them over to Rivera anyway. They heard a commotion coming from the other room.

Were the shooters here already?

An old woman using a cane shuffled into the room with towels and a blanket under her arm. She hobbled directly to Anna, ignoring Cesar. “It will be cold outside,” she announced.

“We don’t have time for this,” said Cesar.

“Nonsense,” argued the old woman. “You will make time. You have a long drive. In that open Jeep she will catch her death.”

Strangely, Cesar deferred to his girlfriend’s grandmother as the woman took one of the towels and scrubbed at Anna’s hair like she was a toddler right out of the bath. Anna never looked up as the woman draped a blanket over her shoulders. Leland wondered if she was going into shock.

Raised voices drifted in from the small yard in front of the house. It was time to make a choice that on the surface seemed counterintuitive. He was going to trust a man who’d vowed to kill him if he ever set foot in Mexico again.

“Let’s go,” Leland said.

Cesar was watching him. He had to know what Leland was thinking. The smirk on his face was proof.

The voices outside grew to a small roar. Cesar’s reasons didn’t matter as much as getting away from the present situation.

“So are we going or what?” asked Leland.

Cesar nodded and picked up the backpack containing the cash and Leland’s weapons, leaving the other behind on the floor. “Let’s go.”

Leland reached for Anna’s hand and they hustled out through the back door, his ankle protesting every step. The GPS locater Marissa had given him at the airstrip had slipped all the way down to his ankle on their trek through the jungle to the cottage, but he didn’t dare try to adjust it now. He was just relieved that Cesar’s girl hadn’t found it in her extremely thorough search earlier.

The rain was still coming down hard as they climbed into an open-air Jeep. Smoke from the motel explosion was drifting through the trees: thick, black and suffocating. Anna and Leland were both coughing by the time they reached the vehicle.

He couldn’t see the shouting men, but he could hear them around the front of the house. They were closer, making their way toward the back of the building. He felt Anna’s terror in the grip of her hand as he helped her onto the bench seat.

Cesar started the Jeep and the raised voices changed direction. There wasn’t a road per se. It was more of a dirt track into the lush overgrowth of jungle.

Cesar stepped on the accelerator and the vehicle surged forward. Fronds of the massive tropical plants brushed the sides of the vehicle as they sped past. The men’s voices faded, soon the air cleared and the rain slacked off.

The lights on the Jeep weren’t particularly intense, but in the deep murkiness of the jungle they shone like a beacon on the dirt road. They were committed to Cesar for now.

They road in silence with Anna still huddled under the blanket, trying to stay warm. Leland suspected that wasn’t possible. It wasn’t raining anymore, but the seats were soaked and the blanket was wet. He tried to focus on anything but the pain in his ankle.

Cesar stopped after they crossed a rickety wooden bridge. He got out of the Jeep without a word and pulled down the back tailgate, fumbling in the dark for a few moments before he located what he was after. Leland didn’t trust the man, so he gingerly climbed out and joined him in the back. He was promptly handed a flashlight.

“Hold this,” instructed Cesar. “I need to see what I’m doing.”

The strong beam of the Maglite shone on a small block of what Leland realized was C-4. “Why are you doing this? They were on foot.”

“We don’t want anyone following, right?” Cesar was inserting a long fuse into the block of explosive as he spoke.

Damn. The man’s going to start a war
. On the other hand, they wouldn’t be safe with any part of this mob on their ass.

“Then we are blowing this bridge now. We’re not leaving it booby-trapped for some villager to ride over and set off,” said Leland.

“Of course, I’m not a monster.”

Leland knew better than that. He’d seen the monster in action.

The cartel lieutenant strode toward the bridge and stopped when Leland didn’t immediately follow. “I need some help.”

Leland sighed and clumped toward him.

The trestle bridge was old, and on closer inspection with the flashlight Leland realized he might not have wanted to cross it on foot, much less in the Jeep they’d just used. The pilings on the bottom looked sturdy enough, but long tree-trunk posts interspersed with two-by-fours made up the deck. If you veered too far to the right or left when crossing, your tires could get stuck or slide off the bridge completely.

Cesar walked halfway out to the middle. “Shine your light below the deck.”

Leland leaned over as Cesar shimmied over the side of the bridge to stand on the massive wooden beam below. He climbed over the trestle, stopped for a couple of minutes with his back to Leland then came back up topside. He held the fuse in one hand and a cigarette lighter in the other.

“Get ready to move,” Cesar advised. “I don’t usually take care of these things myself anymore. I may have cut it a little close on time.” His gold tooth winked at Leland again in the beam of the flashlight.

“How much time do you think you gave it?”

“Thirty seconds, give or take.” Cesar smiled, lit the fuse, and took off like a track star.

Shit
. His freaking boot felt like lead.

He started hobbling back to the Jeep as quickly as possible. Falling would be a disaster, so he shuffled fast rather than running the risk of stumbling to the ground. He got to the Jeep just as the explosive detonated.